Virtual water and other natural resources consumption, as well as pollution impacts should be factored into the price of products (most of all imported products, which should also include social rights and wage discrepancies). 

Wastewater management has to encourage the paradigm shift from considering wastewater a problem needing a solution — ‘treatment and disposal’ — to a solution to many problems, including water scarcity and energy by ‘reuse, recycle and resource recovery’, in the context of a circular economy. This calls for supporting regulatory system, financing, and infrastructure, technical and institutional capacity development.
| Related Megatrends: Climate and environment

More on this Megatrend

As resources become increasingly scarce, the circular economy concept will become increasingly important and the momentum behind it to gather pace over the next two decades.

More on this Megatrend